Network devices need to handle a growing amount of traffic that is transmitted via networks (e.g., the Internet). Some network devices (e.g., Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) routers) have multiple processors that are distributed across each network device. However, control plane functions, of such a network device, are typically centralized and performed by a single processor of a main control unit (e.g., a node controller) of the network device. Accordingly, such network device designs fail to take advantage of the distributed processing architecture. The centralized architecture imposes heavy processing overhead on the main control unit, which limits scalability and performance of the network device.